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LOT 0115
Italic Banded Agate Scarab with Kneeling Warrior in Gold Mount
3RD CENTURY B.C.
1 in. (5.24 grams, 25 mm).
Scarab bezel with carapace detailing and intaglio of a kneeling male nude wearing a helmet, holding a shield, sword and a spear; set into a later gold swivel ring; supplied with a museum-quality impression.
ProvenanceEnglish private collection.
Acquired on the English art market.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13110-248399.
See Boardman, J. and Vollenweider, M-L., Catalogue of the Engraved Gems and Finger Rings, I: Greek and Etruscan, Oxford, 1978, item 237; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 48.11.1.; Chadour, A.B. Rings. The Alice and Louis Koch Collection, volume I, Leeds, 1994, item 123 for intaglio.
FootnotesThe intaglio can depict Capaneus, a legendary, strong, skilled, but arrogant warrior. He was one of the Seven Against Thebes, who boasted that not even Zeus could stop him from scaling the city walls. However, as he climbed them, Zeus struck him down with a bolt of lightning, illustrating divine punishment for his hubris. Evadne, his wife, then threw herself onto the funerary pyre in her grief. The story of strength but excessive pride was reflected in Dante's Inferno, where Capaneus is in the seventh circle as a condemned blasphemer.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0115
Italic Banded Agate Scarab with Kneeling Warrior in Gold Mount
Sold for (Inc. bp): £11,700
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Greek Silver-Gilt Phalerae Depicting a Fight Between Gryphons, an Eagle and a Deer
Hellenistic, 1st century B.C.-1st century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £31,200
A pair of circular horse trappings hammered from sheet-silver, each with a decoration of two gryphons and an eagle slaughtering a deer, the gryphons attacking the deer from below, and the eagle attacking its muzzle, a tree in the background; accompanied by a custom-made display case. 62 grams total, 13.2 cm
Private German collection, 1980s. Accompanied by an expertise from Striptwist Ltd, a London-based company run by historical precious metal specialist Dr Jack Ogden. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.13038-248044.
This phalera comes from the Hellenised East, and was likely used as decoration of the higher part of a horse harness, like the phalerae visible on the armoured and unarmoured horses of the famous graffiti of Dura Europos representing Parthian, Palmyrene or Roman clibanarii (D’Amato-Negin, 2018, pp.11,16-17,26). -
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'The Smithsonian' Greek Terracotta Horse
Italy, 3rd-1st century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £6,240
Modelled in the round, horse in advancing pose with one foreleg raised, flange base; old collector's number '170439' to base; old label '170[...]' and '102' to lower body; neck repaired. 1.15 kg, 19.4 cm
Private collection of Baron d’Ussés. Acquired by F.B. Spiridon, New York, believed before 1894. Acquired by Eleanor Magruder (1852-1906), and thence by descent to her heirs in 1906. Accompanied by photographs of the object on display at the Smithsonian Institution and of the corresponding accession catalogue entry. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13108-248975. -
Graeco-Parthian Bronze Ring with Courtesan Holding a Flower
2nd-1st century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £39
Comprising a slender hoop and an oval bezel with a standing female figure holding a flower. 4.91 grams, 24.51 mm overall, 19.94 mm internal diameter (approximate size British T 1/2, USA 9 3/4, Europe 21.89, Japan 21)
London, UK, art market, 1980s. Private collection, London, UK.
